Integumentary / VISUAL EXPLAINER
Why Is the Skin on Your Palms Different?
Palms have thick epidermal organization with a substantial outer cornified layer, sweat glands and no hair follicles or sebaceous glands. Hair-bearing hand skin has a different arrangement; thick skin does not mean every deeper tissue is thicker.
READ THE IMAGE
What the illustration shows
English anatomy poster comparing palm skin with the back of the hand. Two hand locators lead to dimensional skin blocks. The hairless palm block has a thick epidermis, pink dermis and a coiled sweat gland with a duct reaching the surface. The back-of-hand block has a thinner epidermis and a prominent hair follicle with a connected lobulated gland. Blood vessels are shown below the epidermis. A lower schematic closeup labels the palm's outer cornified layer, lucidum and deeper epidermal layers. Text explains that palm skin has sweat glands but no hair follicles or sebaceous glands. Gold AllHumanBody.com and the project slogan appear at the bottom.
How to interpret this poster
- Proportions are illustrative, not measured whole-skin thickness or follicle density.
- No claim that friction rubs palm hairs off or that palms lack pores.
- No skin diagnosis or treatment guidance.
- AI-assisted educational illustration; not physician certification, microscopy, a diagnosis or individualized medical advice.
- Fine annotations need enlargement; the full description provides an accessible text alternative.
- Display the full uncropped illustration; do not trim titles, legends or boundary annotations.
AI-assisted educational illustration, adapted into web-sized images without changing its composition. This is general education, not an individual diagnosis or treatment recommendation.
EVIDENCE / CONTEXT
Sources and what they support
- Histology Guide: Skin ↗
Thick/thin epidermis, palm/sole distribution and gland/follicle differences.
- Anatomy and Physiology 2e: 5.1 Layers of the Skin ↗
Thick-skin epidermis and stratum lucidum in the inset.